Odisha govt launches 'career portal' for secondary, higher secondary students in collaboration with UNICEF

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government in collaboration with UNICEF has launched a ‘Career Portal’ for secondary and higher secondary students. The portal will provide easy access to information on different careers and will give students an opportunity to interact with teachers. Students will also be able to access career guidance services through a mobile friendly app created specifically for the portal. The official portal which was launched on Thursday can be accessed through the website www.odishacareerportal.com with the student login ID and password. The Odisha Career guidance portal is available in Odia. It is a unique platform that aggregates information on careers, colleges, vocational institutes, entrance exams and scholarships. The portal includes information on more than 550 career paths and students will be able to access more than 2,62,000 colleges and vocational institutes with the information on 17,000 plus undergraduate, postgraduate colleges and vocational institutes in the state and country, the official said. Detailed information regarding 1,150 entrance examinations including application procedure is available. Information is also available on more than 1,120 scholarships, competitions and fellowships for higher education in India and abroad. School and Mass Education Minister Samir Ranjan Dash highlighted that this career portal had come at a very pertinent time as it is the need of the hour to ensure all children acquire knowledge on wide ranging career options and make informed choices during the unprecedented education emergency because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The most impressive aspect about this career portal is that its content is localized and contextualized students would be able to login to the dashboard through a unique ID created to access information, post queries and apply. School and Mass Education secretary, Satyabrata Sahoo said. “We hope that the career portal reaches all secondary and higher secondary students with its services and information. The portal will enable adolescents to choose a career path in alignment with their aspirations and aptitudes and help to connect them with work opportunities.” Sahoo said this also provides opportunities to interact with great personalities, mentors from reputed professional and vocational institutes, enabling students to further understand potential learning and career opportunities. Chief of Field Office, UNICEF, Monika Nielsen said that the Odisha Career portal is a significant medium for equipping adolescent students of secondary and higher secondary in the state to navigate a smooth transition from school to work through higher education, UNICEF is committed to support quality learning interventions.